Salt-Based Solar Power Tower To Be Built in California

A California-based company called SolarReserve claims the technology it will use for the solar tower facility to be built in Rice, California will allow the plant to supply electricity to consumers around the clock through the help of molten salt.

Permission was sought from authorities in California for a solar power tower to be built near Rice, a town in San Bernadino County, California. The California-based company called SolarReserve claims the technology it will use for the solar tower will allow the plant to supply electricity to consumers around the clock through the help of molten salt. The plant will have a 12-foot pedestal to which a total of 17,500 24 x 28 feet heliostats will be placed surrounding the Solar Power Tower. Above the tower, at 100 feet in height, 4.4 million gallons of molten salt are contained. This hefty amount of salt will receive the heat from the sun, reflected by the mirrors, in order to reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit in temperature.

This heat provides the needed energy at any time of day or night by using a steam generator through which the molten salt will pass through. An attached turbine is driven by the steam generator to produce the electricity. While there are other solar towers that use molten salt to produce energy, SolarReserve claims its system will produce a comparatively larger output. Kevin Smith, Chief Executive at SolarReserve, says they use synthetic oil during steam generation. This supposedly makes the system more efficient, allowing the setup to produce the steam at higher temperatures, and could lead to production of three times the amount of energy other similar salt-based systems can produce. The solar power tower planned for Rice might start operations as early as 2013 if SolarReserve's plans pull through.